Cape Town: calculate your daily water usage here

How much water do you consume daily? Considering that the City of Cape Town wants its citizens to use less than 87 litres per day, you may be wondering just that.

Thankfully the City of Cape Town has launched a tool that allows users — albeit rather roughly — to estimate their daily water consumption, and make changes to their lifestyle and usage habits.

The tool itself is extremely simple. It’s located on a quick-to-load, single-use website and features a number of daily activities involving water consumption to some degree.

This includes showering, washing dishes, washing your hands and face and filling a pet’s bowl.

Users are also required to select a number of values within these activities. For instance, options are available to log your average length of shower, how large your pet’s bowl is, or just how many glasses of water you gulp down a day.

The City of Cape Town’s water consumption calculator gives users a more relatable idea of their impact on the city’s water system

Once all the information is complete, the tool spits out what it believes is your daily consumption.

There are a few issues with the calculator though.

“The values above are an indicative guide only and not necessarily an accurate representation of water usage in each instance,” the City states on the page, suggesting that the values might not be entirely accurate.

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If you are using three litres of water to wash your hands, you should probably think about purchasing your own dam.

Additionally, there are a few activities missing from the City of Cape Town’s list, including bathing, washing hair and — dare I say it — watering indoor plants.

Overall, the tool at least allows users to see how their daily activities contribute to the demand on Cape Town’s water system, even if it’s something as simple as owning a goldfish.

Author | Andy Walker: Editor

Camper by day, run-and-gunner by night, Andy prefers his toast like his coffee -- dark and crunchy. Specialising in spotting the next big Instagram cat star, Andy also dabbles in smartphone and game reviews over on Gearburn. More

Bathing should be missing from the list since it’s not allowed under the current water restrictions.

Andy Walker: Editor

You’re right Wayne, but it would make sense for the City to show those who aren’t adhering to the rules just how much of an impact bathing — and other banned activities — could have on the water system.